Finish Sentence As Required

Our Towns

Litchfield

November 29, 2004

Steven T. Driscoll doesn't appear to have grasped the gravity of what happened in 1996 when, in a drunken stupor, he drove his pickup truck into 18-year-old Sarah Craig and killed her as she walked along Route 272 in Norfolk.

With 22 months to go on a sentence of five years in prison and five years probation for manslaughter, assault and driving while intoxicated, Mr. Driscoll asked Litchfield Superior Court Judge John W. Pickard to restore his driving privileges. His license is due to be returned when his probation ends.

Mr. Driscoll told the judge that he needs a license to drive to work and to take on additional duties, such as making coffee, at the Alcoholics Anonymous meetings he attends.

Fortunately, Judge Pickard denied the request, noting that the court cut Mr. Driscoll enough slack when it spared him the prospect of serving the maximum sentence of 11 1/2 years in prison. The lack of a driver's license hasn't prevented Mr. Driscoll from leading a productive life so far.

Mr. Driscoll should have known better than to ask. When Sarah Craig was killed, police found that Mr. Driscoll's blood alcohol level was 0.219, more than twice the legal limit. What's more, he was already enrolled in an alcohol education program because of a previous drunken driving arrest.

The case made legal history last year when the state Supreme Court ruled that bar owners could be sued for negligence, with no limit on damages, if they serve intoxicated patrons who then maim or kill others.

Until that ruling, damages were limited under the state's Dram Shop Act to $20,000 per individual and $50,000 per incident. State lawmakers then passed new legislation barring negligence lawsuits, but raising the Dram Shop Act compensation cap to $250,000 per individual or accident.

Mr. Driscoll should be only too willing to finish his fairly imposed and just sentence.